In general, juice transuding from meat (which hereinafter will be called "extra juice") is one of the reasons for lowering the commodity value of the meat.
Additionally, a part of the meat becomes discolored in contact with the extra juice and the discolored portion has to be removed, so that it causes a lowering of the commodity profit rate. Moreover, the term of storing the meat becomes shorter because the above juice tends to propagate generally active bacteria therein.
A method for packing crustacean for the purpose of removing the extra juice which causes the above various problems is proposed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 63-71145. However, in this method, when temporal or continuous pressure is applied to a liquid absorbing member which has absorbed the extra juice. the absorbed juice transudes from the surface of this member. Accordingly, it is difficult to decrease the time of contact between the extra juice and the food, particularly, in the case of storing the meat which is not covered with a shell. This proposed method is not sufficient for resolving the aforementioned problems.
A method for storing meat is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 1-153159 filed on Jun. 15, 1989 of Fujino et al.
According to the method proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 1-153159, the efficiency of the extra juice absorption is improved over the method disclosed in the laid-open publication No. 63-71147 by arranging a liquid permeable sheet in contact with the meat. However, it is already anticipated that the absorption sheet will also absorb necessary juices besides the extra juice in the meat according to the method in Japanese Patent Application No. 1-153159. It is well known that the juice plays an important role in deciding a flavor of the meat, and losing the necessary juice will bring about lowering of the commodity value of the meat. Accordingly, in order to prevent overabsorption of the juice, it has been necessary to predetermine an amount of the transuding juice during its storing term and, according to this predetermination, to adjust the amount or speed of the liquid absorption.
However, the amount and speed of the juice transuding from the meat are varied according to sizes and shapes of the meat and to its storing conditions. Therefore, it is difficult to comprehend the amount and speed of the transuding extra juice, and high technique necessary to store the meat in stable conditions while keeping its commodity value high.
The present invention is directed to solving the above problems, and the problems regarding quality deterioration of the commodity, decrease of commodity profit rate, and overabsorption of the juice inside the meat.
An object of the present invention is to provide methods for packing and storing meat and a package thereof which can prevent the quality deterioration of the commodity, the decrease of commodity profit rate, and the overabsorption of the juice by absorbing and also to removing the juice transuding from the meat.